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Lots of dealers have given away cars to boost their business and help local charities.

There's a new price battleground -- $30,000 -- for luxury-car makers as they chase younger buyers with small front-wheel-drive vehicles that are sliding down into mass-market territory.

BMW AG will offer a two-cylinder motorcycle engine and a generator to extend the range of its i3 electric. Herbert Diess, BMW's head of randd, said the package will be offered as an option on the i3.

Bentley Motors is close to a decision to build an ultraluxury SUV, according to CEO Wolfgang Schreiber. The vehicle would share a platform with Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche.

Hyundai and Kia each will have two spots during the Super Bowl, the companies said here last week during the auto show. They join a pack of auto brands eager to reach the game's huge audience.

Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has reiterated his intention to reintroduce the Alfa Romeo brand to the U.S. market later this year with the 4C coupe sports car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration soon may revise its five-star crash safety program with new tests for cars and trucks, Administrator David Strickland tells Automotive News.

From Daimler press release

German car manufacturer Daimler AG plans to reorganize its Formula 1 activities. In this context, Daimler welcomes two new investors.

Daimler has signed a letter of intent with Austrian investor and motorsport manager Christian “Toto” Wolff, according to which Wolff will acquire a significant minority interest in the Daimler subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd. (MGP) and will also head that company as its executive director.

Furthermore, former Grand Prix driver Niki Lauda, currently non-executive chairman of MGP, will also acquire a stake in the company. Together with Ross Brawn, Lauda and Wolff will complete the management of the Mercedes-Benz Formula 1 racing team.

Toto Wolff is to become both a shareholder and executive director of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd., and will take over the complete coordination of all Mercedes-Benz motorsport activities.

Photo: WRi2

Toto Wolff started his motorsport career in Formula Sport in 1992. Since 1998, Wolff has founded several venture capital companies. His current investments include an interest in HWA AG, the partner of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport in DTM racing. In November 2009, he acquired a stake in British racing team Williams Grand Prix Holdings PLC and joined its board of directors. Since July 2012, Toto Wolff has been a member of that team's management. Toto Wolff will resign from that position when he joins Mercedes-Benz, but will remain a Williams shareholder.

Christian Wolff is married to Susie Wolff, née Stoddart, and former DTM driver for Mercedes-Benz.

Susie Wolff, Mercedes. (Photo: DTM)

This past holiday season, I found myself literally gushing over the car I was driving. You may or may not know that I've a special place in my heart for Volkswagen products.

The car that was gushed over multiple times on Instagram and Twitter (Matt_St_Pierre) and Facebook was a 2012 Volkswagen Golf R decked out in Rising Blue.

At $39,675, the Volkswagen Golf R plays alongside the Subaru STI ($38,195) and the Mitsubishi EVO X ($41,998), but as all enthusiasts will say: the Golf doesn't measure up in the numbers game. It's down on horsepower and torque, and short on big-time go-fast bits such as a massive spoiler and uber-flared wheel arches. However, where it wins is in sheer classiness.

Photo: Mathieu St-Pierre

Those who have driven all of these cars know what I'm going on about. The German's precision, sense of purpose and all-out efficiency without sacrificing sanity, health and hearing are what make this car great, excellent even.

But wait; had I spent the week with an EVO or an STI, I probably would have equally blathered on about these cars as I did repeatedly with the R.

For the Mitsubishi EVO, I'd have raved about its razor-sharp steering, infinitely tossable chassis and mind blowing agility. Had I piloted the STI, I would not have been able to contain my praise for the car's rugged raw power, insane traction and tank-like demeanour.

Any of these cars would have beat into submission our winter's first super storm that brought 45cm of the white stuff over a period of 24 hrs. All have excellent AWD systems which display specific advantages.

In the 2012 Volkswagen Golf R's case, the Haldex AWD's clutch pack endlessly switched up the amount of torque that effect the rear wheels. This way, on the slippery stuff, up to 100% of the 2.0T's juice was sent to the rear wheels for maximum fun. The Subaru STI requires more work to get the ass to break loose. The Mitsubishi EVO's S-AWC is legendary for doing everything right.

What I'm trying to say is that the Golf R is not the be-all-end-all of affordable super cars -- although it is a tremendous product. All car manufacturers have the ability to build such a car and make me gush -- even Toyota.

At one point, Toyota did participate in the World Rallye Championship (WRC) with a sweet and angry AWD turbocharged Corolla hatchback. Bring it back and I'll love Toyota for it. Look it up on Google.

The bottom line is that Volkswagen's Golf R deserved all the love I gave it. And, I'd do it all over again.

A team at the University of Sherbrooke has developed an engine with the power of a Ferrari... and the size of a football.

''We used aircraft engines and reactors, and we made them spin on a rotor at ultra high speeds. The result is an extremely potent, yet extremely compact engine,'' says Jean-Sébastien Plante, mechanical engineering professor at the University of Sherbrooke.

It took them five years of research to get to this point. Should this type of engine ever enter production, it would revolutionize transportation. One notable application would be as a range extender for electric vehicles.

The ''football engine'' is featured in Québec Sciences magazine's Top 10 Inventions and Discoveries of 2012.

Source: Radio-Canada

From GMM

Dr Helmut Marko is bitter because he was turned down "several times", Fernando Alonso has claimed.

Following Red Bull and Ferrari's 2012 title battle, a verbal spat broke out between Spaniard Alonso and Austrian Marko, who is Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz's right-hand man.

Marko claimed that while world champion Sebastian Vettel is fully focused, Alonso is too "busy with politics and funny comments".

Dr Helmut Marko. (Photo: Red Bull Racing)

Fernando Alonso retorted: "Some (people) say they don't read them (Alonso's comments), don't hear them and don't see them, before adding that they are not influenced by them -- so clearly they do read them, maybe at night."

Now, the feisty 31-year-old Ferrari driver has hinted Marko is bitter because of how many times he rejected Red Bull's interest in his highly-rated services.

"After hearing 'no', it always hurts a little more each time," Fernando Alonso is quoted by Brazil's Totalrace.

While many NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers bemoaned the reduced amount of downforce, on the Gen 6 cars at the Daytona tests, almost the opposite was true for last week's abbreviated one day test at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

For Daytona's high banked 2.5 mile oval the rear spoiler was limited to 4 inches high by 53 inches wide. Also the bumper configurations were changed to make bump drafting a lot more difficult as was seen when Dale Earnhardt Jr. took out Marcos Ambrose and over a dozen other cars in practice.

For the Charlotte 1.5 mile oval NASCAR permitted the rear spoiler to be 7.25 inches high by 61 inches wide which produced much more downforce than the Restrictor Plate (or Super Speedway) cars do.

Overall, the Gen-6 car will be 2.3 inches shorter (196.2 inches), three inches wider (77 inches) and 150 pounds lighter compared to the 2012 version. Right-side weight on the car is 1,620 pounds and the left-side weight is 1,680 pounds for a total of 3,300 pounds. The balance on the 2012 car was 1,700 pounds on the right and 1,750 on the left side (3,450 pounds).

One industry insider estimated that the “downforce” track car produces almost double the amount of downforce as the “super speedway” car.

Jeff Burton. (Photo: Getty for NASCAR)

And veteran Jeff Burton explained: “at the end of the day, the better the cars are stuck in the race track, the closer the cars run to each other... Especially on big tracks, the better the grip is, the closer the action can be."

"I believe that more grip gives the drivers more opportunity to put their car in a position that they wouldn't be able to put it, if they didn't have that grip," Burton said. "That's why I think the racing is going to be better."

Only nothing happens in a vacuum. The “downforce track” spoiler is so tall that drivers complain about the lack of visibility.

"They need to do something about this spoiler. It sucks," said Matt Kenseth who joined Joe Gibbs Racing after a long association with Fenwway Roush Racing.

Another change for this year is the use of the clear plastic Lexan on the rails or fins on the “C” pillars along the rear deck lid. Some suggest a Lexan rear spoiler but the sanctioning body is concerned that it that the lexan spoilers invisible to the fans who are want spoilers on the rear deck lids as opposed to wings which originally were required on the previous generation of stock car racers.

One suggestion was a rear spoiler which would be lexan on the top half, but, NASCAR officials haven't decided to make any changes at this time.

Adapted from GMM

Timo Glock will leave Marussia, and probably Formula 1. He could join BMW but the category still has to be announced.

After leaving Toyota in the wake of the Japanese giant's F1 exit, the now 30-year-old German has been Marussia's lead driver since the former Virgin team's 2010 inception.

"The Marussia F1 Team and its race driver Timo Glock have, by mutual consent, agreed to part company with immediate effect," says the Marussia press release issued on Monday morning.

The reason for Glock's split is almost certainly financial, with the well-funded British rookie Max Chilton already signed up to drive one of the cars in 2013.

"Tough economic conditions prevail and the commercial landscape is difficult for everyone, Formula 1 teams included. We would like to thank Timo for working with us to reach this decision, especially as he had a valid contract, and also for the contribution he has made to our Team," said John Booth, Team Principal of the Marussia F1 Team in the press release.

In other words, this means that Glock's cockpit "must be sold to a pay-driver".

That report said the replacement for Glock, who earned about EUR 2 million per season, will have to pay "at least five million" to be Chilton's new teammate.

Britain's Telegraph newspaper mentioned Vitaly Petrov or Sebastien Buemi as potential candidates.

And Belgium's RTL named Jerome d'Ambrosio, the Eric Boullier-managed 2012 Lotus reserve who in 2011 was Glock's teammate at Virgin, as a possibility.

Swiss newspaper Blick wrote: "The biggest mystery is what Glock will do now? Is he suddenly on Force India's list?"

Auto Motor und Sport said he is in the running to race for BMW in Germany's premier touring car championship DTM in 2013.

Another possibility might be the ALMS series as the BMW-contracted driver, Dirk Muller, said to Timo Glock on Twitter late on Sunday: "Many congrats and welcome in the club".

Timo Glock responded: "Ppssss ... danke".

BMW Z4 GT3 driven by Dirk Muller in ALMS series. (Photo: BMW Team RLL)

From GMM

Toto Wolff, the Williams shareholder who manages Valtteri Bottas and only last July became an executive director, is leaving the Oxfordshire based team.

The mass-circulation German newspaper Bild reports that the 41-year-old Austrian, a former racing driver, is replacing the recently departed Norbert Haug as Mercedes' motor sport chief.

He has almost certainly been appointed by the marque's new F1 chairman Niki Lauda, the triple world champion who - like Wolff - is from Vienna, Austria.

As well as owning shares in Williams, Toto Wolff also has a stake in HWA, the German company that runs Mercedes' DTM programme.

Mercedes would not comment, and neither would Williams. But Bild claimed the news is likely to be announced officially at the DTM test in Valencia, which starts on Tuesday.

Reports estimate the value of Wolff's Williams shareholding at up to EUR 40 million.

Photo: DTM

Keith Wiggins, owner of the HVM Racing squad is working on different scenarios that could see his team make a return on the grid for the upcoming 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series' season.

The team had its fair share of problems last year after being associated with Lotus and being unable to separate with the engine manufacturer that was plague by numerous problems, one of which being its lack of performance on the track.

Wiggins himself was pessimistic about the chance to see its team back in action in IndyCar and he even turned his energy toward new opportunities outside of open-wheel racing and finally agreed to partner with the Status GP sports car team in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

According to reports, including Speed TV, Wiggins has now confirmed that he is having discussions with a couple of different parties regarding projects in IndyCar, although the final format of participation has not been finalized yet.

HVM has been linked with running a few different drivers. Among the candidates, two are interested in an ownership stake (EJ Viso?). One other option would be to see the team become a satellite program of a current IndyCar entrant.

Whatever form it may take, which could include HVM running the program under a different banner, Wiggins says he won't go forward unless proper funding is in place for the team to be competitive.

Audi has elected to send two R18 e-tron quattro cars to this year's 61st 12 Hours of Sebring.

Marcel Fässler, Benoît Tréluyer and Oliver Jarvis will drive one, and Lucas di Grassi, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish will driver the other, as they bid to give their team a last LMP1 victory.

Photo: Audi Motorsport

Last because the LMP1 class will be deleted in 2014, as the American Le Mans Series, which hosts the 12 Hours of Sebring, and Grand-Am merge.

"We're in for a very emotional race weekend," admitted Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, head of Audi Motorsport. "Sebring is where Audi's sports car era that has been so successful began.

"We expect that with two current hybrid models we'll be battling for overall victory[.]"

The Sebring 12h enjoy a great reputation in the huge American sportscar fraternity. (Photo: Audi Motorsport)

A victory which would bring Audi's total to 11.

Furthermore, driver Kristensen, who holds the record for the most wins at Sebring, will be trying to lay hands on his seventh.

In the 2000 season, Audi celebrated its first sportscar victory with the R8 at Sebring. (Photo: Audi Motorsport)

Caterham F1 Team has confirmed the launch date of their new challenger.

In a short press release, the team based in Leafield, UK announced it will unveil the new Renault-powered CT03 on February 5 at 8:45 am in the pit lane of the Circuito de Jerez, Spain.

New team driver Charles Pic will attend the event. No word has been mentioned about the second driver.

February 5 is the first day of the 2013 pre-season F1 tests and Caterham F1 Team will commence its test program immediately after taking the wraps off its new car.

Caterham-Renault CT01. (Photo: WRi2)

Two-time Formula 1 World Champion, Fernando Alonso captured a double win on the ice lake at “Vrooom 2013” event at Madonna di Campiglio at the end of a kart race between the Scuderia Ferrari drivers and the Ducati Team riders.

Photo: WRi2

Starting alongside his teammate Felipe Massa, Alonso soon found himself at the back of the pack after a clash with Massa, but the Spaniard fought his way up through the field to take the win in the first leg.

Photo: WRi2

He won the second leg too, in a race where the grid was based on the reverse order of the previous race result. It took the Spaniard just a handful of laps to work his way up into the lead, thus finishing first overall, ahead of Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Photo: WRi2

Everybody is now anxiously waiting for the 51st edition of the 24 Hours of Daytona, presented at the famous Daytona International Speedway, January 26-27.

For the occasion, Grand-Am teams have hired the cream of drivers. Big names are omnipresent throughout the 59-car field.

Favourites for overall victory will no doubt be last year's winners AJ Allmendinger, Ozz Negri, John Pew and Justin Wilson. The four Michael Shank Racing men driving the No. 60 Ford/Riley are on top of their game, plus they are joined by Austrlia's Marcos Ambrose.

But they are facing fierce opposition.

From BMW/Riley, Chip Ganassi Racing has entered two cars featuring drivers from NASCAR, IndyCar and DTM, such as Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti and Joey Hand.

From Corvette, 8 Star Motorsports has assembled a line-up of former Peugeot endurance drivers - Anthony Davidson, Pedro Lamy, Nicolas Minassian and Stéphane Sarrazin - that will no doubt be dangerous.

From within, the second MSR Ford/Riley, led by Canadians Chris Cumming and Michael Valiante from Vancouver, has also posted quick times in testing.

All in all, 17 DP cars are taking the start.

In GT, the stakes are just as high. Manufacturers Ferrari, Audi, Porsche and BMW have all invested heavily in the hopes of earning some silverware.

Audi has made a big push to establish itself in the North American market. Four Audi Sport customer racing teams have turned up. So have four factory drivers: Frank Biela, Filipe Albuquerque, Oliver Jarvis and Edoardo Mortara.

Ferrari too, has sent big guns, such as Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander, who are driving a Canadian-backed Ferrari, the No. 61 of AIM Motorsport.

Heavy hitters from Porsche include last year's winning team Magnus Racing, on hand with two cars, Brumos Racing and TRG. Drivers Jörg Bergmeister, Kuno Wittmer and Romain Dumas are lending a hand.

Even Rubens Barrichello has jumped in the fight, aboard a Dener Motorsport Porsche.

At BMW, the efforts have been concentrated around two Turner Motorsport M3. The driver line-up features factory drivers Bill Auberlen, Andy Priaulx and Maxime Martin, as well as Canadian Paul Dalla Lana.
In total, 36 entrants in the GT category.

This year also marks the debut of the new GX class, which six teams have entered. Napleton Racing has dominated the pre-race test, but the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/Speedsource Mazda6 should be watched as well.

Drivers Jonathan Bomarito, Marino Franchitti, James Hinchcliffe and Sylvain Tremblay have all starred before.

The green flag drops Saturday at 3:30 pm.

Missed our complete coverage of the 2013 NAIAS? This top 10 showcasing the finest vehicles unveiled in Detroit will surely give you an eyeful.

10. Hyundai HCD-14 Genesis Concept

Photo: Hyundai

Inside, the driver-focused cockpit prioritizes dramatic sculpture over infotainment button overload, the company stresses. As such, the clean dashboard features state-of-the-art driver eye-tracking and 3D hand-gesture recognition technologies to recognize driver commands without the use of manual controls. More details on the Hyundai HCD-14 Genesis Concept.

Continue reading Top 10 2013 Detroit Auto Show Unveils